


Branded

by Colamiilk



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Drabble, Giriko is the voice of reason here, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, M/M, Manga AU but they're ok, Parties, Rare I know, The ending hurt me in a good way, They're married here bc I'm having fun, Threats, and with the academy, bc I said so, mental health discussion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:33:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27071284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colamiilk/pseuds/Colamiilk
Summary: “Oh… what led you to marrying that mess?”---Goretober 2020: Branded/Fire/Heat Exhaustion
Relationships: Giriko/Justin Law
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Goretober 2020





	Branded

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Burns](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20103307) by [Colamiilk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colamiilk/pseuds/Colamiilk). 



> I actually didn't intend to post today but I got started on this and just had the inspiration to go all the way to the end for once so... here y'all go. There's a lot of other stuff I'm actually supposed to be working on, both in writing and just my life, so I'll try to post those things people actually want to see soon o-o)/

Giriko was an intimidating guy, he could turn up the charm when he wanted to, but now that he wasn’t in hiding anymore he’d rather die than be forced into doing that because some idiot got the wrong idea of why he was here. He was here to get drunk, not because he wanted some. Sure, 2 years ago he would’ve been interested but after Arachne woke up and even more so now that he was married to Justin, he wasn’t fucking interested, he’d harrass the blonde if he was unbearably horny or whatever. 

Some people still didn’t get all that though, they ignored the ring as well as his extremely unfriendly, rough, hateful behavior because they were so delusional they thought they could somehow get this to work out in their favor. Today was much the same, only this time it was an extremely bold woman who came up to him despite it being an academy event, somewhere that people usually cared a lot more about professionalism and not trying to have sex with someone who could very well be a distant coworker. 

“I’m married.” Usually that was enough to scare people away, apologizing and scampering off because that was something people normally respected and they obviously weren’t staring at his hand to notice the ring before he mentioned it. Not everyone was that sane though and this woman just gave him a pitious smirk. 

“I don’t see your wife.” Giving a heavy over dramatic sigh Giriko finally turned around to fully face her, getting the impression she wasn’t going to fuck off unless she got some kind of real threat. 

“I’m married to the academy executioner, he’s a man and also probably not someone to piss off.” She went quiet there, smart enough to at least consider his words and question if this was really something she wanted to do. Giriko really didn’t need to hide behind Justin here, he could smack her around if he needed to and get her to fuck off, but it was so much easier to just use the brat as a scapegoat and there was way less of a chance of him getting in trouble for causing a scene or whatever. 

“Oh… what led you to marrying that mess?” Something snapped behind Giriko’s eyes with that and his lips pulled back to show his sharp dangerous smile, threatening to kill. They were in the middle of a stupid ass party, Justin was talking to people but would come back any minute now… he couldn’t just straight up kill this woman but at the same time she was  _ begging  _ to get torn to shreds. Luckily, Justin ended up coming back earlier than expected, a confused look on his face that already seemed upset with how close they were.

“Hey brat, where have you been? You take way too fucking long!” Justin’s nose wrinkled up hearing that, no longer seeming worried or upset and now was just exhausted by Giriko’s normally shitty attitude. 

“Giri, what's going on? You’re talking to someone.” The disbelief in Justin’s voice would be insulting if it weren’t for the fact it was true that he wasn’t fucking interested in mingling with these fucks, or people in general for that matter. It wasn’t his thing. 

“Nah I’m not, someone’s talking to  _ me _ , they won’t fuck off.” Pointing behind him with his thumb he noticed the woman make an offended noise at being addressed like that. Giriko only snorted in response, if she didn’t want to get insulted she shouldn’t be so goddamn creepy. Of course Justin didn’t know what was going on though and took her side, thinking that Giriko was being ‘unruly’ like usual or some crap. 

“ _ Giriko, _ stop being so rude. Really, how do you say these things with no remorse? She can hear you.” Justin was seriously so huffy, distressed with this situation and clearly going into damage control. It sorta made sense, after all Justin was the one that had to deal with any complaints Giriko enticed, and he certainly got a lot of them. This was the one situation that Giriko wasn’t interested in letting Justin start on the apology train though, this woman didn’t deserve apologies from them. 

“You wouldn’t be saying I’m being rude if you knew what she was talking about.” Looking back over to the women with a sharp smile he only chuckled at how she went pale, horrified Justin was going to put it together. Luckily for her, Justin was stupid as fuck and also a complete and utter asshole who didn’t bother being jelaous because he ‘knew’ Giriko couldn’t get anyone better.  _ However _ , what Giriko was fishing for here was for Justin to realize she was insulting not only him, but their  _ marriage.  _ Plus she was dangerously close to getting handsy which Giriko wasn’t a fan of at all. 

The next few seconds disproved his idea entirely that Justin didn’t get jealous though, or at least that it wasn’t a given how he’d react to that, another thing apparently tied to his changing moods… 

“Giriko… what did she say then?” Justin was bypassing the woman entirely, before this he had equally been looking between them, offering for her to step in if she wanted to explain herself. That wasn’t the case anymore, Justin looked like he was on the edge of friendly and murderous, able to tip over to either side depending on Giriko’s answer, depending on whether or not he found this to be worthy of being rude or not. It was a hell of a lot of pressure and not really what Giriko had been going for here… his mouth dried up and, surprisingly, the woman answered… and really sealed her fate.

"I was asking if he wanted to come home with me, but now that you're here why don’t we all have some fun, you're both gorgeous so how am I supposed to resist?” Her glossy lips that were supposed to be attractive somehow got her hair caught in the sticky texture, she pushed the hair away once she noticed, but it still made Giriko grimace a bit. God she was way too persistent… 

“What the  _ fuck  _ were you saying to my husband!?”  _ Giriko  _ went pale hearing that, scared to turn around and see whatever expression was going along with that deadly and  _ loud _ voice. It was common knowledge Justin could be extremely loud, that he shouted to hear over his headphones when he was trying to have more than one person hear him. This wasn’t that situation though, this was at a party, surrounded by coworkers and he was  _ swearing _ . Giriko wasn’t sure he had ever heard Justin this livid in his life, and apparently neither did the small audience they attracted with confused people looking to see what the commotion was… 

Fuck.

If Giriko knew this is what would’ve happened if he didn’t cause a ‘scene’ and scare her off he would’ve straight up slapped her and gone on with his night. Even that would be less of a big deal then this. That was only proven when Justin took a step forward, making Giriko’s eyes bulge out of his head before he desperately grabbed onto the brat, pulling him down into his lap and holding him still. It was fucking insane that he was the one protecting academy members for once, but he also knew they were fucked if Justin just killed someone in public.

Immediately Justin started struggling, trying to get at least his arms out from where Giriko had pinned them down onto his sides. It was scary to see how unbelievably outraged Justin was, it wasn’t like the kid to snap anymore, and even before he didn’t snap often or in public… This really set him on fire, literally… 

The flames on Justin’s face had long disappeared into just a bad eye and a dark caved in hyperpigmentation that never seemed to fade… but with his anger it came back in a flash, not nearly as bad as it originally was but still incredibly concerning. That was supposed to have healed, they had said it wouldn’t completely disappear since his madness would never go away, but Giriko had thought that just meant the scarring… he didn’t know it could just burst back into flames! 

The bitch who had started all of this moved to back up, knowing she had done something more than slightly bad here. Giriko knew he was holding Justin back from killing her right now, but if he wasn’t busy with that he’d kill her himself for doing this to Justin. There was no way he was going to let Justin touch her and hate himself later for falling to his madness like he clearly was struggling not to do right now. 

“I’ll eat your soul you dirty sinner, get out of here before I rip it from your body.” Justin thankfully had the common sense to whisper that and not scream it like he had when he first heard what was going on. She ran at that, sensing that was a real, and very realistic threat. The staring from others lasted a few seconds longer before people got bored and turned away, whispering amongst themselves. No one dared to approach them or say anything out loud anyway, all the other elites and Death Scythes weren’t close enough to notice, thank fucking christ. They’d undoubtedly hear about it by tomorrow but for right now they were safe enough. 

“Justin, just breathe, it's fine… there's no need to be upset, I’m right here.” The fire on Justin’s face was so hot that even with their soul connection it was starting to lightly burn Giriko’s skin. Giriko wasn’t sure that had ever happened before, if it did they hadn’t been close enough for him to notice… taking a deep breath Giriko bit his lip and cupped his hand to throw it against Justin’s eye, desperately trying to smother the flames. 

It fucking  _ burnt _ , Justin was so upset he was even refusing Giriko. That hurt beyond just the burns. 

Still, thankfully, the flames did begin to die down with his interference anyway, Justin making a pathetic whimper and his fire going out like a light before he cuddled in Giriko’s chest, hiding away from the rest of the world. Giriko’s hand was  _ black _ , covered in soot and peeling skin, it hurt like a goddamn bitch… It was a hell of a way to make him learn the lesson of never making Justin jealous again. He should’ve just dealt with it himself, this was such a nightmare… 

Shushing the scythe he pet at Justin’s hair, trying to get him to calm down enough that they could fucking get out of here. It didn’t take all that long, Justin intertwining his hand with Giriko’s healthy one and pulling to leave, probably way more inclined to run away from all of this than Giriko already was. He was probably humiliated, upset and ashamed he had snapped like that and wanted to go hide from everyone. Everyone but Giriko, considering he was trying to drag the enchanter with him. It was a very quiet display of trust but one that punched Giriko in the stomach hard enough the pain lingered… 

Just a year ago Justin would’ve run away from him too, lock doors or climb into closets because he couldn’t stand being seen after something like that. But he wasn’t running, he didn’t want to leave without Giriko so he was waiting for him to follow. Giriko didn’t make him wait long, getting up and standing strategically besides the other to block people leering on and wondering what happened to their youngest scythe with far too invasive curiosity. God he hated this uptight fucks, never could just mind their own business… 

Once they were out in the cool night air Justin did break away, mostly to go lean on one of the railings. His face apparently still had some almost invisible flames coming off of it, just barely able to be seen in the dark but undeniably  _ there _ . He was suffering, dealing with something Giriko couldn’t see besides weak flames that didn’t mean anything. They didn’t say shit about him other than he was hurt, didn’t make him any easier to understand or give any indication of how on earth to help… it was nothing that could magically teach Giriko what the fuck to do… 

But that didn’t matter. 

Going over to where Justin was standing, panting through his nose with heavy breaths and tense as a motherfucker, he leaned his back against the same railing. He didn’t look at Justin, didn’t leer at the flames he knew the kid was painfully self conscious of, he just stood there silently, giving a sigh of his own after a bit. 

“Some people have no manners, huh? I don’t know how you put up with all of those clowns.” Justin gave a pitiful half-laugh, shaking his head in disbelief that Giriko could say that after what he did. It was undoubtedly true that Justin thought he was the worst party in that situation, although Giriko still wasn’t entirely sure of that. He enjoyed throwing out threats and screaming as a pass time after all… Still he didn’t push it, didn’t try to convince the brat it was fine, that he was thinking about it wrong or any of that other bullshit. 

“I like clowns, don’t call them that, they’re more like bugs.” Throwing one of his hands to the side to ruffle Justin’s hair mockingly he grinned at the annoyed whine he got. 

“Well I like bugs, so what are we going to do here?” Justin’s face cracked into a wide, truly happy smile that he tried to sneakily cover but really couldn’t manage to. The flames died down into just the tiniest bit around his lashes… not gone, Tezca was right saying they’d never be gone. Giriko was a fool to believe it was just scarring, but they were down enough that the kid seemed happy again.

That was what mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> One of the biggest 'complaints' (more like insults) I get from people is 'I don't know how to talk to you' as if I'm some alien that needs to be talked to in a special way because I'm bipolar... this fic is about that and sort of like a lesson in how its actually supposed to work, take note lmao
> 
> also I (and most people with disorders) don't scream in public, writing =/= reality and sometimes I exaggerate things for the ~drama~ and to make it more interesting


End file.
